The advocates of military-style weapons, those designed to kill crowds of people in a matter of seconds, has found an advocate of their own in uber-religious Christian Rick Santorum, chairman of Patriot Voices, a group that promotes conservative issues. The former Republican presidential candidate has dismissed the need for gun safety regulations. On This Week Sunday, he maintained his idiotic argument that Americans should have access to military-style weapons, including high-capacity magazines and armor-piercing bullets that are often used by criminals to assault police officers.

When the topic of gun control came up in the panel discussion, Santorum had a piece of advice for Congressional Republicans: “I think we should stick to our guns,” Santorum said. (Source: ABC News)

His inflexible stance on gun control didn’t go over well with former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who began to grill him on why he has a need for weaponry such as armor-piercing bullets. The discussion became heated and chaotic as Santorum stammered and stuttered and stumbled over his words.

Granholm: Why have a magazine that can riddle a six-year-old into shreds?

Santorum: Here’s what I would say about that. 50 years ago, you could go on a catalog and buy a gun. There were no restrictions on gun ownership, there were no restrictions on magazines, there were no restrictions on anything and we had a lot less violence in society than we do today. The idea of pointing to the gun instead of pointing to society….Not one thing the president did dealt with Hollywood and gun violence and video games and all the glorification of violence.

Granholm: Why do you need to protect armor-piercing bullets, why do you need that?

Santorum: Why do you need to protect Hollywood? Putting films in front of us to glorify…

Santorum: But criminals could…having the ability to defend yourself is something that is a right in our country.

Grahnolm: And police officers certainly do…

Note that as per usual, Santorum is completely out of touch with the issues and reality in general, and completely unable to stay on topic. He kept bringing the problem back to President Obama not addressing the issue of movies and video games. There’s one major problem with this argument, however. It’s a lie.

Among President Obama’s recommendations on dealing with gun violence is the attempt to lift the congressional ban against researching the impact of video games and media images. In a press conference on January 16, 2013, the president pushed for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to renew research to explore the possible relationship between “video games, media images, and violence.” President Obama is urging Congress to support a bill that would grant the CDC$10 million to conduct new research. Unfortunately, in the past, Congress has had a tendency to bar federally funded scientific organizations from using their research in ways that would appear to “advocate or promote gun control. As far back as 1996, the NRA has also been opposed to funding research into gun violence. (Source: NBC News)

“We don’t benefit from ignorance. We don’t benefit from not knowing the science of this epidemic of violence.” the president said. “Congress should fund research into the effects violent video games have on young minds.” He continues “While year after year those who oppose even modest gun safety measures have threatened to de-fund scientific or medical research into the causes of gun violence, I will direct the Centers for Disease Control to go ahead and study the best ways to reduce it.”

There is also the problem of a Supreme Court ruling that set a precedent in video game restrictions. In the case of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, SCOTUS ruled that video games are protected speech under the 1st Ammendment. During the same month, in a Father’s Day essay for People Magazine, the President was critical of the amount of time children spend playing video games “every father can encourage his child to turn off the video games and pick up a book; to study hard and stay in school.” (Source: Wall Street Journal)

In that ruling, uber-conservative Justice Antonin Scalia said that depictions of violence are age-old and that government can not regulate this. “Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed,” said Scalia. (Source)

Furthermore, a statement from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) says “The same entertainment is enjoyed across all cultures and nations, but tragic levels of gun violence remain unique to our country. Scientific research an international and domestic crime data point toward the same conclusion: Entertainment does not cause violent behavior in the real world.” (Source)

This is a position that is held by many common-sense thinkers, including myself. Certainly, there are any number of things that can possibly contribute to the rise of gun violence, particularly by young adults and teens, but why is the problem primarily in the U.S. when people worldwide are exposed to the exact same media? Should we explore a connection? Absolutely. But the GOP and Santorum’s stance that this is definitely the cause and that we should ignore all other possible concerns is ludicrous.

Crawl back under your rock, Santorum. Is he even still relevant?

Watch the fun discussion here:

I am an unapologetic member of the Christian Left, and have spent a lot of time working with “the least of these” and disadvantaged and oppressed populations. I’m passionate about their struggles. To stay on top of topics I discuss, subscribe to my public updates onFacebook, follow me onTwitter, or connect with me viaLinkedIn. I also have a grossly neglected blog. Find me somewhere and let’s discuss stuff.